The Soviet Union’s programme of aid to Africa, closed after the dissolution of the USSR, was recognised for sending talented professionals abroad. As the programme’s activities gradually came to an end, many professionals returned home to their families. Dr. Teljan Jounisbekov, however, felt the need to continue serving the people of Burundi. He opted to remain in the country and pursue his passion, a decision that was valued by the Ministry of Health of Burundi and supported by the offer of an extension of his contract. Dr.

The training, which occurred between 31 October and 3 November, included interactive sessions, group work, case studies, role modelling and competency design to better understand the complexity of sustainable development and to identify comparative advantages of volunteerism in implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The training, which occurred between 31 October and 3 November, included interactive sessions, group work, case studies, role modelling and competency design to better understand the complexity of sustainable development and to identify comparative advantages of volunteerism in implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Что является богатством нации? Ее люди (in Russian). What is the richness of a nation? – Its people. It couldn’t be truer for the Republic of Kazakhstan where this saying resonates loud and clear. People the world over volunteer to give back to society. The one billion and counting volunteers work to commit their time and skills to making people’s lives better.  

Что является богатством нации? Ее люди (in Russian). What is the richness of a nation? – Its people. It couldn’t be truer for the Republic of Kazakhstan where this saying resonates loud and clear. People the world over volunteer to give back to society. The one billion and counting volunteers work to commit their time and skills to making people’s lives better.  

Mr. Toily Kurbanov, Deputy Executive Coordinator, United Nations Volunteers (UNV) will visit Baku, Astana and Moscow from 22 to 26 May. During his mission to the region, Mr. Kurbanov will meet partners within government, volunteer involving organizations and academia, to discuss support to volunteerism in the region.

Ankara, Turkey: Coming to Turkey in May 2013 has been literally my first experience as a UN Volunteer. No long preparation time after the final “go!”, just getting everything packed and saying (temporary) goodbyes. Of course I volunteered before. In my younger years, in my hometown in Germany, I was involved with environmental groups and the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). I helped out at an association to integrate foreign students and promote cultural diversity at my university, doing a bachelor in forestry.

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina: After young people from Italy, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and other countries have gone all over the world to serve as UNV Interns, we  the first generation of German UNV Interns –deployed to our countries of service in 2013.

Astana, Kazakhstan : During my one-year assignment in Kazakhstan, there were a few questions with which I became familiar. One of these questions was why I chose to come to Kazakhstan. Being a statistician, I must say that it could be called a chain of random events. I received the announcement of the volunteer position one week before the application deadline, just when I was about to finish my dissertation.  To my surprise, almost everything in the terms of reference matched to my background.

Astana, Kazakhstan: The only things I knew about Kazakhstan were from a comedy film, and also that it was a huge country. This was before that evening when I opened my email to discover an offer for a United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme’s assignment at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Kazakhstan.